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Sun halo over South Pole

High, thin cirrus clouds create halos around the sun or moon. This one is over Antarctica, at a time when the sun is shining 24 hours a day.

Photo taken at the South Pole, Antarctica, by Hunter Davis. Canon 60d, 10mm lens. To see more photos like this, visit his website.

Hunter Davis submitted this image to EarthSky. It’s a halo around the sun – caused by ice crystals in high thin cirrus clouds in Earth’s atmosphere – visible over Earth’s South Pole on December 18, 2015.

Hunter said he got this shot around 1 a.m. That’s right. Around the time of the December solstice, when the sun is at its southernmost point in Earth’s sky – the South Pole is in daylight 24 hours a day.

He also said it was around -20 Fahrenheit (around -30 Celsius) at the time!

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.